Living metal

I have always wanted to live in the metal way. I don't have enough chutzpah to call myself a musician, so instead, I'm just a fan. A member of a subculture.

Still, if I want to live metal, how?

The first attempt that might make sense is to really get into the music. Buy every zine. Buy lots of CDs. Go to every show. Support local bands. If any metal band needs something, give it to them.

I know several people living like this. The CD collections increase, but they seem more removed from the world than ever before. When your car barely runs, your daughter needs braces and you're buying the newest LLN CDs, priorities might be out of whack. It's a good way to get nowhere. And most of those CDs, zines, and local bands are moronic trash.

The other way to live metal that occurs after another level of reflection is to live the principles of metal. No guilt. No apologies. No individualism. Join with the forest, and don't try to be the most brightly adorned tree. Total war. No forgiveness. Persecute the weak. Live every day like it's your last. Be ready to die for what you believe in. Read the occult and Nietzsche. Spend your CD budget on firearms. Do not tolerate the herd.

I have always wanted to live in the metal way. I don't have enough chutzpah to call myself a musician, so instead, I'm just a fan. A member of a subculture.

Still, if I want to live metal, how?

The first attempt that might make sense is to really get into the music. Buy every zine. Buy lots of CDs. Go to every show. Support local bands. If any metal band needs something, give it to them.

I know several people living like this. The CD collections increase, but they seem more removed from the world than ever before. When your car barely runs, your daughter needs braces and you're buying the newest LLN CDs, priorities might be out of whack. It's a good way to get nowhere. And most of those CDs, zines, and local bands are moronic trash.

The other way to live metal that occurs after another level of reflection is to live the principles of metal. No guilt. No apologies. No individualism. Join with the forest, and don't try to be the most brightly adorned tree. Total war. No forgiveness. Persecute the weak. Live every day like it's your last. Be ready to die for what you believe in. Read the occult and Nietzsche. Spend your CD budget on firearms. Do not tolerate the herd.

Or you could, you know, just listen to and enjoy the music and not live in a way that a genre of music tells you to. That second way makes you just as much of a sheep as everybody else in the world. You are just being led by a different Shepard.

Imagine the following: You like metal, but you recognize that most of it is a dumb product of a dying time and its conquerors, just like rock music. You find that underground metal offers a top slice of quality stuff and you really like it. The problem is that no one is producing much of it anymore.

Obviously, the path of least resistance is to bail out and get into techno, but if you're made of stronger stuff, you know that the path of least resistance is usually a bad end.

There's no point giving up. Victory is always closer than you think, and it doesn't consist of some liberalized vision like setting up a daycare center on some remote island where you teach 14 kids to like Deicide's Legion.

Metal is changing rapidly, and it needs voices calling for what brought about the past, and differentiating the newer stuff as "nu-metal","emo","metalcore" or other pejoratives.

You can have a positive influence, and it won't take any more effort than you're expending now.

A frustrating world exists now. More natural resources are being depleted, the economy's into recession (is it still?), and morons run amongst us. It's so easy to escape from it all and go into a forest, making bombs (and blowing up technology industry executives as well!), collecting firearms, living off of forest dwellers, but in the end one creates the same bubble as those who live their liberal religion. That bubble is bound to burst. That forest will soon be gone due to climate changes caused by lack of concern and lack of change. An interesting article: Brain-eating amoeba One can't even swim in lakes anymore due to the ever-increasing global temperature. Nothing lasts forever but if you want something beautiful to come of the life you live now, do something about it. Nietzsche says to live dangerously and that includes inspiring change from within. It's tough I know but hell, what's life without a challenge? P.s. Excuse me if this sounds like rehashed garbage. I think I had too much Jenkem sniffs this morning lol.

As far as living in the woods: "Aristotle says that in order to live alone, a man must be either an animal or a god. The third alternative is lacking: a man must be both--a philosopher" (/metalist). The point here is not to cut yourself off from society, but simply ignore the conventions that you think are BS. If you point these out, you are helping them destroy them. Nietzsche encourages us to philosophize with a hammer: smash your idols. If the value is solid, it is worth following. If it is hollow it will shatter into pieces and you were better off without it. Philosophy in general is ideally supposed to be about challenging your assumtions. So instead of looking at it as a shepherd, assume you are more like a wolf.

It's interesting how Aristotle came up with such a concept of animal and god and Nietzsche including the third alternative. In ancient and tribal religions, animals are revered as gods. So to be a philosopher is to be of highest divinity. I love Nietzsche. He accepts both good and evil as necessary for meta-good.

The other way to live metal that occurs after another level of reflection is to live the principles of metal. No guilt. No apologies. No individualism. Join with the forest, and don't try to be the most brightly adorned tree. Total war. No forgiveness. Persecute the weak. Live every day like it's your last. Be ready to die for what you believe in. Read the occult and Nietzsche. Spend your CD budget on firearms. Do not tolerate the herd.

There is a clear difference between devoting one's life to a specific scene that features legitimate groups X, Y, and Z; and doing whatever possible to espouse and live by the underlying message that those groups are trying to communicate.

Yes, support the messengers as best you can, but do not lose sight of what they're actually saying; if what they're saying is worth the time and effort to do so, living in accordance to its principles ought to be the obvious choice, with practices like leading by example naturally following.

Simply put, don’t try to be a martyr. Nobody wants more of that nonsense.

Or you could, you know, just listen to and enjoy the music and not live in a way that a genre of music tells you to. That second way makes you just as much of a sheep as everybody else in the world. You are just being led by a different Shepard.

But have fun doing it your way.

Metal doesn't tell you what to fill your life with, it tells you how to approach your entire existence. One of the ideals of metal is what you just described - the pursuit of the "overman" in yourself.

Applying another's good ideas to your own life is far more rewarding than selfish individualism.

Metal doesn't tell you what to fill your life with, it tells you how to approach your entire existence. One of the ideals of metal is what you just described - the pursuit of the "overman" in yourself.

Applying another's good ideas to your own life is far more rewarding than selfish individualism.

I couldn't agree more.

Metal is a spirit-ethos, not politics, not lifestyle, not religion, but a meta-philosophy to approach them all.